Stuff That Matters In Life

This is from the Stand To Reason Ambassador Insights that are emailed to me by Greg Koukl:

Earlier I wrote about everyday encounters we all have in restaurants.  As an ambassador I’ve learned that encounters are the bread and butter of my witness for Christ.

For example, while giving a talk at a local Barnes & Noble, someone asked why it was necessary for him to believe in Jesus.  He was Jewish, believed in God, and was living a moral life.  Those were the important things, it seemed to him—how one lived, not what one believed.

To him our message depicted a narrow-minded God pitching people into Hell because of an arcane detail of Christian theology—Jesus.  How should I answer?

Remember that the first responsibility of an ambassador is knowledge—which includes an accurately informed message.  What is our message?

One way to say it is, “If you don’t believe in Jesus, you’ll go to Hell.  If you do believe, you’ll go to Heaven.”

That’s certainly true, as far as it goes.  The problem is it’s not clear.  Since it doesn’t give an accurate sense of why Jesus is necessary, it makes God sound petty.

So how do we fix this?  Here’s how I responded to my Jewish questioner.  I asked him two simple questions.

Cliff-hanger here…
What are those two questions?

Have you ever talked to someone like this Jewish man? What would you say?

Tune in tomorrow…or sign up for Ambassador Insights at www.str.org, on the left side bar. It’s free.

Believe me, I get no money for this. In fact, I give them money. I learn so much from Stand To Reason.